Summerville adopted a Flex period schedule for the 2023-2024 school year. First semester, students had a homeroom Flex period on Mondays, where they met with the same teacher and the same group of students every Monday. For Tuesday and Wednesday, students were able to choose from a menu of flexible class offerings.

This past week, there was a change to Monday homeroom. From now on, students will have three days to choose their own Flex classes, and the Monday Homeroom Flex is eliminated.

BTC interviewed Mr. Christopher, SHS Principal, about this decision.

“When we started the year, we wanted to have a Homeroom [Flex ] for students to be able to pick classes; but coming into this year, the teaching staff and administration had an understanding that this was new and that we would be receiving feedback from parents, teachers, and admin in meetings about what works best for them. [It was through] feedback where I heard that teachers would like to have more days for students to come into a Flex period,” said Mr. Christopher.

While widely discussed by administrators, students also have their own opinions on the matter. Some voiced frustration with Flex’s option availability and timing.

“I think that Flex should have more options and be more open with letting students into classes [after PowerSchool closes them out of the choices], even though sometimes it is needed,” stated sophomore Emily Costa.

Last year, many students used lunch to leave school earlier than this year. However, now students with reduced schedules cannot leave until after lunch, so having Flex before lunch means they have to stay longer than they otherwise would have.

“I think Flex is kind of annoying because you have to have two periods after lunch so it gets a little mentally exhausting and makes the days longer, especially when you have a reduced schedule,” sophomore Linda Valadez expressed.

Having more classes in a day could also make the day seem longer for students without a reduced schedule because they are doing more activities.

The elimination of Homeroom in exchange for an additional Flex period seems to be popular with the teachers, while there are opposing opinions from students. With feedback from students and teachers, the schedule will remain “flexible” to new changes and ways the system can better itself for the well being of everyone.